Ruben Fleischer Talks SPY HUNTER Movie; Says He Wants to Make a Fun, Lighter Version of a Spy Movie

With two successful comedies under his belt (Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less), director Ruben Fleischer is making his big budget debut with this weekend’s crime pic Gangster Squad. Steve recently spoke with the director in anticipation of the film’s release, and during the course of their interview they covered a few other subjects. Yesterday we shared what he had to say about the prospects of Zombieland 2, and today we’ve got Fleischer’s thoughts on the feature film adaptation of the video game Spy Hunter that he’s attached to direct. He revealed that he wants to make a lighter, fun version of a spy movie with Spy Hunter, talked about references to the game that he hopes to include in the film, and revealed they’re in the process of “pitching our ideas to what the movie would be to the studio.” Hit the jump for more.

Speaking with Steve, Fleischer revealed that his vision for Spy Hunter is of a more colorful entry in the spy genre than the serious tone of the Bourne movies and James Bond:

“I love Bond movies, I love spy movies; I feel like Bond and Bourne are pretty serious and dark and take themselves pretty seriously, and my sensibility is more “popcorn” I guess you could say, and so I was excited to do a really fun, funny, sexy, exotic locations, amazing cars version of a spy movie. What’s great about Spy Hunter is that we have an amazing title, an awesome car, and a great theme song, and we can use that to launch a new franchise that hopefully will compete with the other ones but just be kind of the more fun, video game version of a spy movie.”

Steve asked if they had settled on what kind of car they’ll be using for the titular vehicle, and while Fleischer cautioned that they don’t yet have a script, he hopes to create something from scratch for the design:

“I mean we don’t even have a script, we’re just pitching the studio now. We’re in the process now of pitching our ideas to what the movie would be to the studio, so this is definitely a ways off. But I would think that we would want to—I’m not saying it’s going to resemble the Batmobile, but we would want to make our own car. It’s not like we’re gonna take a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or something like that and put missile launchers on that, it would probably be its own car I would hope.”

Finally, the director seems keen on throwing in at least a few nods to the original 8-bit video game for hardcore fans:

“[The weapons van] would be a part of it. The three things I remember are the weapons van, the boat, and the car. What little there is to take from the original, I think we would want to embrace all those aspects for fans of the games. But I’m guessing that most kids under 25 don’t know the specifics of Spy Hunter.”

You can watch the portion of the interview concerning Spy Hunter below followed by a full transcript. Look for Steve’s full interview with Fleischer soon.

Collider: You’ve been linked to Spy Hunter. Is that your next project or is it one of the possibilities?

Fleischer: It’s a possibility, I mean in film development things take a long time. Dan Lin, who produced Gangster Squad, had the property. I love Bond movies, I love spy movies; I feel like Bond and Bourne are pretty serious and dark and take themselves pretty seriously, and my sensibility is more “popcorn” I guess you could say, and so I was excited to do a really fun, funny, sexy, exotic locations, amazing cars version of a spy movie. What’s great about Spy Hunter is that we have an amazing title, an awesome car, and a great theme song, and we can use that to launch a new franchise that hopefully will compete with the other ones but just be kind of the more fun, video game version of a spy movie.

Do you already know what car you’re going to use, or is it similar to the car in the game?

Fleischer: I mean we don’t even have a script, we’re just pitching the studio now. We’re in the process now of pitching our ideas to what the movie would be to the studio, so this is definitely a ways off. But I would think that we would want to—I’m not saying it’s going to resemble the Batmobile, but we would want to make our own car. It’s not like we’re gonna take a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or something like that and put missile launchers on that, it would probably be its own car I would hope.

I grew up playing the game—

Fleischer: Me too.

I love, love the game. Obviously there’s a truck that’s very involved.

Fleischer: The weapons van.

Exactly, the weapons van. Is that in the movie?

Fleischer: Yeah that would be a part of it. The three things I remember are the weapons van, the boat, and the car. What little there is to take from the original, I think we would want to embrace all those aspects for fans of the games. But I’m guessing that most kids under 25 don’t know the specifics of Spy Hunter.

The video game had a very iconic controller with the special buttons. Is there any chance you would try to use that?

Fleischer: Yeah that would be amazing. It would be even better if when the movie is playing in theaters, everyone has one of those on the back of the seats in front of them and they can pretend they’re driving as it’s happening (laughs).